Project name : Buses are coming

Location: San Diego CA

Commissioned by : San Diego Afro American Art Museum

Creative Concept and Design: Peter Fink in collaboration with Diem Jones and Ben Marshall

The story of the Civil Rights movement is a prominent part of American history. The peaceful protest by Freedom riders against the scourge of segregation was the focus of the “ Buses are coming” art installation. Many may have heard of the Freedom Riders. Still, they may not know that they were 300+ men and women, black and white ranging in age from 18 to 61, sitting side by side in a simple affirmation of shared humanity. The Freedom Riders knowingly risked their lives, many of them setting up wills before they embarked on the journey.Between May and September, approximately 300 activists traveled on the buses, and were sent to prison in Mississippi. The centrepiece of the Busses are coming art installation is a collection of those 300 mug shots.

"The Freedom Riders were organized by the Congress of Racial Equality. They had people go down there and they trained them in nonviolent protest," said Gaidi Finnie Director of the AfroAmericanArtMuseum "The first 13 of them — included young Congressman John Lewis from San Diego traveled from DC, going to New Orleans. But when they got to Birmingham, actually to Aniston in Alabama, the Ku Klux Klan, the FBI and the governor all said, 'you have 15 minutes to kill, maim, hurt, whatever you want to do to those people and nobody will stop you.' So they did. They beat them up and firebombed the bus."

“Much fire, desire, whatever you want to call it. It was in my bones,” said Hezekiah Watkins as he stared at his mugshot from 1961.

Watkins was only 13 when he was arrested for the first time in Jackson, Mississippi.

“I entered a space that was for whites only,” the 73-year-old recalled being grabbed by a police officer in the bus station.

Watkins was arrested 109 times as a Freedom Rider. His mugshot is one of more than a hundred lining an exhibit now on display inside Quartyard in the East Village. It’s a part of “The Buses are Coming,” an installation hosted by the San Diego African American Museum of Fine Art. It includes interactive videos and photographs from 1961.

“Everything we did, it was done for every American,” said Watkins

The “ Buses are coming” art installation aimed at engaging people with honouring and understanding of the Freedom rider’s personal stances against injustice 60 years ago as well as in personal reflection of : What cause would you ride for? The current climate of racial understanding made “The Buses are coming” a timely framework for such personal and shared public reflections and conversations. Extensive use of QR codes allowed visitors to engage directly with original film, news and photographic content.

As a free exhibit in the heart of San Diego downtown, The Buses are coming public art installation successfully reached new audiences and connected with people who do not usually visit museums. Metropolitan Transit Service (MTS) promoted the exhibition on public transportation vehicles.